The exploding Hezbollah pagers were a wake-up call to something I have been writing about for a decade: The “connected car” risk of remote-control terrorism posed by cars that combine three features in particular.
* Cars that are connected wirelessly to the Internet.
* Cars that have the ability to drive themselves, even a little bit.
* Cars that have a huge battery that can burn more intensely and for longer than a gasoline car, and can be triggered remotely.
Unlike a gasoline (or diesel) tank, the batteries in a Battery-Electric Vehicle (BEV) are controlled by software. This means that a software command could be issued that would deliberately cause a thermal event that would cause the battery to go up in flames on a moment’s notice.
It’s not about hacking
Most of the focus on the risks of connected cars over the last decade has been around hacking. Basically, someone other than the automaker “hacks” into the software of the car and causes it to do things that the automaker certainly did not intend. That’s not what I am focused on here, although that remains a risk too. My main point here is that if the automaker, or any of its component makers or a government to which the equipment maker has to respond and obey, wants to do something that you -- the consumer -- don’t want, then we have a problem. A giant Hezbollah pager problem -- but 5,000 pounds heavy, on wheels, perhaps driving itself to the target.
Our friend Anton Wahlman poses some interesting questions in his latest Substack article.
Discuss....
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